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Henry Gibson passed away last Monday at age 73. Current television viewers probably remember him from his role as Judge Clarence Brown on Boston Legal, but Baby Boomers will always picture him holding a large flower and reciting poetry on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.
Laugh-In was a rapid-fire sketch comedy show that was “must see TV” long before the phrase had been coined. The idle chit-chat around the water cooler in the late 1960s was always peppered with catchphrases made popular by the show, such as “look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls” and “you bet your sweet bippy.” To appear on Laugh-In increased a person’s coolness quotient exponentially, which provided the show with an impressive albeit eclectic pool of special guest stars. Johnny Carson, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Cher, Harry Belafonte, Wilt Chamberlain and Richard Nixon are just a few of the famous folks who uttered “sock it to me” or got smacked with a rubber chicken. Even if you were born long after Laugh-In was defunct, you probably recognize some of its regulars, perhaps from frequent appearances on The Love Boat or possibly from Academy Award-winning films:
1. Goldie Hawn
Goldie had a small role on the short-lived sitcom Good Morning, World, but it was her perpetually giggling, clueless blonde persona on Laugh-In that propelled her to stardom. Dancing in a bikini with wacky slogans painted all over body probably helped her to get noticed as well.
2. Lily Tomlin
Tomlin’s Ernestine the Telephone Operator was so popular that the Bell System offered her a $500,000 contract to film a series of commercials for them. She gave them a gracious “thanks, but no thanks.” Tomlin’s Edith Ann (who was five years old and spouted her monologues from a giant rocking chair) soon had the nation finishing their declarative sentences with “And that’s the truth!” followed by a Bronx cheer.
3. Henry Gibson
Gibson was sort of the Jack Handey of Laugh-In, except his deep thoughts usually rhymed:
“The Thumbnail.” A poem by Henry Gibson.
Did you ever stop to figure
Why the thumbnail is so hard?
Well it hasn’t any choice
With all that skin to guard.
It may look fat and pudgy
But it’s heart is good and true.
It’s prettier than a toenail
And easier to chew.
4. Sammy Davis, Jr.
Davis was a frequent guest on the show, and one of his trademark schticks, lifted from comedian Pigmeat Markham’s stage routine, launched yet another catchphrase, “here come da judge.”
5. Judy Carne
British actress Judy Carne (Burt Reynolds’ ex-wife) brought that oh-so-necessary-for-60s-credibility mod Carnaby Street touch to Laugh-In. She endured being assaulted week after week with water, flour, sandbags, you name it, just for announcing “It’s Sock It To Me Time!”
(The most famous Sock It To Me, so as not to disappoint those who came expecting the Nixon clip:)
6. Arte Johnson
Johnson’s most memorable character was Wolfgang, a German soldier who wasn’t aware that WW2 had ended. Clutching a cigarette, he’d peer from between some bushes and comment “Veeery interesting,” two words which eventually became as repeated as Fonzie’s “Aaaay.” Arte also portrayed lecherous old Tyrone F. Horneigh, who was forever trying to pick up Ruth Buzzi’s Gladys Ormphby on a park bench and getting whacked over the head for his trouble.
7. Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Buzzi was the only cast member to appear on every single episode of the show, and despite her versatility (she played everything from flight attendants to Southern belles to socialites), she was mainly known as spinster Gladys Ormphby. Gladys wore a visible 
hairnet, spent most of her time on a park bench, and wielded her purse like a weapon when approached by cads who were only interested in her body.
8. JoAnne Worley
JoAnne Worley was loud and larger-than-life—Carol Channing, Ethel Merman and Phyllis Diller all rolled into one. She would frequently trill her lines operatically rather than just speak them, and she had a special affinity for chicken jokes.
The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate is pointing at you! Share your Laugh-In memories, be they good or bad, with the rest of us.
Read all past installments of Kara’s TV-Holic series.
Comments (29)
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I remember Henry Gibson more for leading the hated Illinois Nazis in The Blues Brothers.
posted by Patrick on 9-18-2009 at 1:31 pm
Arte Johnson’s line was actually four words. “Very interesting………but shtupid.” The second two words were delivered after the laughter from the first two died down, creating a second burdt of laughter.
posted by Old Geezer on 9-18-2009 at 1:36 pm
You left out any mention of Alan Sues, whose most famous character was the somewhat creepy ‘Uncle Al the Kiddies Pal.’
And Gary Owens, whose voice would intone “From Beautiful Downtown Burbank.”
Jeremy Lloyd was allegedly supposed to be at the Polanski-Tate home the night of the Manson murders, but wound up not attending.
posted by Steven on 9-18-2009 at 1:37 pm
My parents never watched this show back in the late 60’s-early 70’s – the counterculture movement never quite hit our part of West Virginia – so they were quite shocked when I started watching the show avidly on “Nick @ Nite” reruns when I was about 12. I didn’t always get all the jokes, but it completely cracked me up.
Once they had this song that went “The media, the media, a big encyclopedia”, which was stuck in my head years later when I was writing a paper for a journalism tutorial. My professor lambasted me for using the word “media” as a singular noun, red-marking all the verbs that follwed it. I bluffed my way out of a bad grade by saying that the combined impact of all media has made the combination of mediums a single entity unto itself. What else was I supposed to say – “Well, it’s a singular noun on ‘Laugh-In’?”
posted by MarMar on 9-18-2009 at 1:43 pm
Steven – thanks for reminding me about “beautiful Downtown Burbank.” I visited Burbank when I was 15, a few years after watching the show, and thought “Um, this really isn’t all that striking…” I don’t think I’d quite gotten the concept of “sarcasm” down to an art form just yet.
posted by MarMar on 9-18-2009 at 1:46 pm
and who can forget when John Wayne came out carrying a flower just like Henry Gibson to do his own poem:
“The Sky
by John Wayne
The sky is blue
The grass is green
Get off your butt
And join the Marines
Thank you”
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 9-18-2009 at 1:54 pm
I distinctly remember the revelation when I saw this show on Nick at Night and realized that my (at the time) beloved You Can’t Do That On Television was a complete and utter knock off of Laugh In. (joke wall = locker wall, fake Gary Owens announcer, sock it to me = sliming and water dunking)
I quickly found Laugh In to be the superior and more subversive option. Damn, I loved that show.
posted by EMStoveken on 9-18-2009 at 2:22 pm
My favorite part of the show was the end where people would pop out of little doors in a decorated wall and spout one liners.
posted by Rah55 on 9-18-2009 at 2:42 pm
No idea why this has stuck with me all these years, but here it is!
THE BUG, by Henry Gibson
Bug, bug on the wall,
Ain’t you got no sense at all?
Soon that wall will have to be plastered.
Get off that wall,
you silly (pause) bug.
posted by Hyacinth on 9-18-2009 at 3:00 pm
I hate Illinois Nazis…
posted by taylor on 9-18-2009 at 3:02 pm
Let’s see, was it really that long ago? I’d get with my fellow high schools students and relive the previous nights great lines. Of, I still use Tyrone F. Horneigh classic line on my wife at appropiate times, i.e. “Do you believe in the hereafter? Well, then you know what I’m here after! hea, hea, hea, hea”
posted by Where did the time go on 9-18-2009 at 3:37 pm
EM –
Oddly enough YCDTOTV wasn’t just a knock-off, but as close to an authorized one as you could get. Ruth Buzzi was involved in creating YCDTOTV.
I was also introduced to Laugh-In through Nick at Nite reruns when I was in my formative years, and form me they did.
I can attribute a big chunk of my sense of humor to The Muppet Show, Laugh-In, YCDTOTV, and Turkey TV. Kind of scary when I think about it.
posted by Jon on 9-18-2009 at 3:40 pm
Say Goodnight Dick . . .
posted by Steve on 9-18-2009 at 4:36 pm
Good night Dick
posted by JaneM on 9-18-2009 at 5:00 pm
I still bring up the Farkel Family!! That sly Fred Berfel and gotta love Sparkle Farkel!! And i still use the term “flying fickle finger of fate”. And if you have no idea what I am talking about, “go look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls!!”
posted by RichardD on 9-18-2009 at 5:33 pm
Jon –
That explains a heck of a lot. Thanks for the insight.
posted by EMStoveken on 9-18-2009 at 5:37 pm
Very funny Steve and JaneM, I just did an afternoon coffee spit take!
posted by Don on 9-18-2009 at 6:02 pm
Was that a great show or what? You bet your sweet bippy!
posted by K on 9-18-2009 at 7:10 pm
The Nazi soldier was Artie Johnson’s take on old war movies where an enemy souldier at some point would pop up out of nowhere to declare some over heard allied plans…”Very Interesting” — right down to how he held the cigarette.
But…for your best Nazi pardoy: I and so many others remember Gibson for being the leader of the Illinois Nazis in The Blues Brothers.
Illinois Nazis.
I HATE Illinois Nazis.
posted by George S. Patton on 9-18-2009 at 7:55 pm
Wasn’t Laugh-In the show where John Wayne dressed up in a bunny suit?
posted by Owen on 9-19-2009 at 6:37 am
I haven’t thought about Laugh In in years… And who was that who’d always ride the tricycle and fall over?
posted by Vickey on 9-19-2009 at 7:26 pm
My favorite Farkels were Simon and Gar always introduced as the twins Simon and Gar Farkel.
posted by jim on 9-20-2009 at 1:57 am
I loved Laugh-In! I was a kid when it aired, and I didn’t always get everything, but it was still great! Looking back, I’m surprised that my old-fashioned parents let me watch it.
When Reagan we elected, I remember hearing that it was \predicted\ during a Laugh-In \News of the Future\ piece that aired in 1968 or so, when he was governor of California. The show referred to him as \President Ronald Reagan\, which was followed by huge laughter from the audience. I think the year from which the news came was during Reagan’s administration.
posted by Tammy on 9-20-2009 at 2:11 pm
I have never seen an episode. I’m mid thirties and my small town didn’t get nickelodeon on our cable package until 2000.
But I am very familiar with laugh-in. In junior high when my friends were sending in dedications to the radio stations and listening to Warrant and Bon Jovi. I listened to the Laugh-in Album and all Bill Cosby’s albums.
posted by Lewen on 9-21-2009 at 2:35 pm
Who remembers the brief revival of Laugh-In from the early 80s? (or was it the late 70s?) All I really remember of it is that it was good but not as good, and had Robin Williams and probably Jonathan Winters in it.
posted by Skot on 9-23-2009 at 4:56 pm
What a great show…watched it as a kid, enjoyed them again as a teenager on a local station. We still refer to oddly dressed tourists as the Farkel Family as well. Especially those in Beautiful Downtown Burbank.
posted by shirleyfeeney on 9-24-2009 at 1:09 am
Gary Owens had so many classic lines:
“This show was previously recorded because we were too ashamed to do it now.”
“This is your offstage announcer reminding you that this is your offstage announcer.”
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 9-27-2009 at 2:13 am
Sock it to me?
posted by Dick Nixon on 9-28-2009 at 2:13 pm
According to an interview I saw with Dick Martin, Laugh-In was the first show to have a full time censor back stage. I watched this in high school and we boys changed the running joke to “look that up in your f*** and wagnalls”
posted by RB on 9-28-2009 at 5:09 pm